It’s disclosure day.

And no, we’re not talking about the new Steven Spielberg movie. We’re talking about the new legislation in New York State, S.8420-A/A.8887-B, that went into effect last week and requires advertisers to disclose the use of “synthetic performers,” aka performers viewers might think are real people, but are actually AI generated.

Signed into law by New York Governor Kathy Hochul last December, the legislation is one of two “common sense laws” requiring transparency for AI use in advertising, Hochul said in a press release at the time. (The other protects the name, image, and likeness of the deceased from commercial use without consent from their “heirs or executors.”)

“In New York, we are setting the rules of the road instead of letting AI run the show,” Governor Hochul said in a press release. “Requiring simple, honest disclosure when an ad uses synthetic performers protects consumers, respects our creative workforce and keeps New York at the forefront of responsible innovation.”

For marketers, this means that any advertising that runs in the State of New York using AI-generated performers will now require a notice disclosing that use. To be compliant, marketers will also need to disclose the use of AI-generated lead performers, background or extras, as well as use cases like an AI-generated hand model.

The bill doesn’t spell out what disclosure should look like or the language marketers need to use, but should ads run without the required disclosures, advertisers could be subject to fines to the tune of $1,000 for the first penalty and $5,000 for subsequent offenses.

Marketers see New York as a first mover when it comes to this kind of legislation and expect that other states may adopt similar policies down the line.

“We’re just trying to get out ahead of it…ultimately, we have to start thinking about this across the board,” Tyler Smith, head of production for North America at VML, told us.

New York’s law may also be a pressure test for marketers when it comes to use of AI-generated performers in ads when it’s now legally required to disclose that use. The new law is also going into effect as audiences indicate some fatigue of AI-generated content, according to a Billion Dollar Boy study covered by Emarketer, which found that consumer enthusiasm for such content was just 26% in 2025, down from 60% who expressed enthusiasm in 2023.

Continue reading here.—KM

Susie Wolff knows a thing or two about legacy.

Wolff, the managing director of F1 Academy, Formula 1’s women-only racing championship, had a long career behind the wheel of race cars herself. Like many F1 drivers, she started in karting, and eventually competed in motorsports including Formula 3, the Race of Champions, and F1, where she served as a development driver for Williams and became the first woman to participate on track during an F1 race weekend in more than two decades. That’s no small feat in racing.

“It’s always been perceived as a very male-dominated, macho world,” Wolff told Marketing Brew, referencing a topic she writes about in her memoir, Driven. “It takes a special kind of environment, or a special kind of little girl with huge passion, to then overcome the fact that she’s looking at something where she doesn’t see herself represented.”

F1 Academy presents an opportunity to change that for future generations. But with just three full seasons under their belts, Wolff and her team are still in relatively early days of building fandom for the series, and she’s deeply aware that F1—and some of the other sports they’re competing with for attention—have the advantage of sheer time.

As such, Wolff is pragmatic when it comes to her plan to grow the audience for F1 Academy. She does, however, have several reasons to be optimistic that this is the women’s championship that may stick.

Read more here.—AM

Are we entering an era when consumers prefer “value” over values?

That’s the question many are asking after Everlane’s recent acquisition by Shein.

For years, brands like Everlane, Reformation, and Allbirds represented a new vision for fashion: stylish basics paired with sustainability promises, transparent supply chains, and a distinctly millennial sense of conscious consumerism.

Now, many of those same companies are facing a reality check. The Everlane-Shein deal, for instance, surprised much of the industry given the stark contrast between the two companies’ reputations and business models. Meanwhile, Allbirds—the once-beloved sustainable sneaker brand that became synonymous with Silicon Valley minimalism—recently announced a pivot away from footwear and toward AI cloud infrastructure after years of declining sales and mounting financial pressure.

The developments raise larger questions about whether the original “ethical millennial brand” movement was ever truly sustainable as a business model.

To Sim Gulati, co-founder of the textile production company Everbloom, it served as a “stamp” of the fact that while consumers cared about sustainability, they didn’t necessarily want to pay for it.

“You’ve seen the rise of Shein and fast fashion over the last 15 years,” he said. “[Consumers are] speaking with their principles, but they’re making decisions with their wallets.”

Continue reading on Retail Brew.—JS

Executive moves across the industry.

• The Trade Desk tapped Google Cloud and Zendesk alum Sarah Gavin as CMO and EVP.
• PGA of America hired NBCUniversal ad sales SVP Jeff Clennon as chief commercial officer.
• Tyson elevated Wes Morris, the company’s group president of poultry, to COO.
• Sam’s Club’s chief experience officer, Diana Marshall, is leaving the position at the end of the month, WSJ reported.